Global Switch exits give UK colocation buyers more bargaining power

Kao Data, which builds and runs data centers for AI and advanced computing, announced on 29 September that Bruce Claassen will become its CFO on 1 October. According to the company’s release, Claassen spent four years at Global Switch, the international data center developer and operator, as group finance director and most recently acting CFO. On 30 September, Pulsant named Jon Arnold its chief commercial officer. He also comes from Global Switch, where he was executive group director for sales and strategic accounts.

Two moves in two days do not make a trend, and neither announcement says why either man left Global Switch. But the jobs the two men have taken are worth reading closely. One is a seller of big accounts joining a regional operator. The other is a finance director with a record in refinancing joining an AI data center developer with a large pipeline.

For businesses that buy colocation and AI capacity in the UK, the two hires point in different directions. Pulsant’s appointment suggests it wants larger enterprise deals. Kao Data’s suggests that funding its build program is now a central job.

Both are useful to a buyer. The first is a reason to negotiate harder. The second is a reason to check more carefully what is being bought.

A regional operator hires a big-account seller

Pulsant calls itself “The UK’s Edge Platform” on its website, and describes a national network of regional data centers. Its announcement says hundreds of businesses use its UK-wide infrastructure, backed by more than 1,600 technology providers. Arnold will run its sales, commercial and client relationship functions, according to the announcement and Pulsant’s own team page. Before Global Switch he held senior leadership roles at Volta Data Centres, Daisy Group, MCI Worldcom and Siemens, the announcement says.

His pitch for the company is specific. Pulsant, he said in the announcement, combines “a UK-wide platform with deep regional presence and sovereign infrastructure”. He said the market opportunity “is significant, particularly as AI adoption moves from experimentation to deployment.”

Rob Coupland, Pulsant’s chief executive, put the demand case in the same terms: “As businesses across the UK increasingly look to deploy AI-enabled services closer to their users and data, demand for secure, resilient and regionally distributed digital infrastructure continues to grow.”

Hiring a commercial chief whose last title included “strategic accounts” reads as a plan to chase them. That matters for any enterprise buyer running a capacity tender. If regional operators are pitching for AI deployments that sit close to users and data, a buyer has another credible bidder, and more room to negotiate on location, sovereignty, price and exit terms.

An AI developer hires for capital

Kao Data’s portfolio includes more than 237MW of IT load that is operational, under development or planned, according to its release. The release says new developments are progressing in Stockport (Greater Manchester) and Park Royal (West London), alongside its campus in Harlow, Essex. The release does not say how much of the 237MW is already running.

In June 2026 Kao Data announced a 22MW, 10-year agreement with Nebius, the AI cloud company, at the Harlow campus. That deal is just under a tenth of the 237MW figure.

Spencer Lamb, Kao Data’s chief executive, was clear about why he hired Claassen: “Bruce brings extensive experience of operating within fast-paced, high-growth, private equity-backed businesses, together with deep expertise in capital investment and refinancing.” The release says Claassen oversaw major refinancing programs at Global Switch and will work closely with Kao Data’s board and investors as the new developments progress.

Claassen himself pointed to demand: the company, he said, “continues to support growing demand from the AI and hyperscale cloud sectors”.

None of this suggests Kao Data is short of money. It does show where the work now sits. When an operator’s capacity is partly planned or under construction, the capital that pays for it is part of what a tenant is buying.

What buyers should ask before signing

Businesses signing multi-year capacity deals should treat both hires as prompts.

• Widen the tender. Put regional and sovereign options alongside the London campuses, and make each bidder price location, connectivity and exit terms, not only cost per kilowatt.
• Ask what is built. For any capacity that is under development or planned, ask for the delivery milestones and whether the construction is already financed.
• Write in the slip. Agree service credits, termination rights or alternative capacity if a hall is late, before the contract is signed rather than after.
• Check the account team. Ask whether a change of commercial leadership changes anything for existing customers at renewal.

The UK challengers are hiring the people who ran sales and finance at a large international operator. Buyers should take the extra competition, but price in the fact that capacity on a plan is only as firm as the money behind it.